Saraswati - Worshipping River of Knowledge

Saraswati is among few of our deities named in Vedas but not as goddess but a river, the river next to which the Harappa-Meluha-Kalibangan civilization flourished. A land of abundance, it was the place where the Vedas were conceived.

Veda, a name, derived from the elementary word Vid meaning Knowledge, and Saraswati - the local river, in the banks of which the sages, who composed Vedas, used to live, later became intermingled. With the disappearance of the river, Saraswati was deified as the goddess of knowledge, education, music etc. all of these things which had their source in Vedic Shastras. This is the day we unknowingly celebrate our great treasures - the Vedas.

Saraswati is nowadays referred by some people to as Sarai (Sara), the wife of Ibrahim (Abraham) who is referred to Brahma of the Hindus. This has no linguistic or etymological basis. While Sara means lady, princess, noblewoman, Saraswati means one who leads to essence of self knowledge. It is also a Sanskrit composite word of surasa-vati which means "one with plenty of water" which typically the ancient river Saraswati was as confirmed by satellite images of the region. Further Saraswati as claimed in some later-date Puranas, has NO reference of being Brahma's consort in the Vedas.

Just as a deity is a reminder of divinity, Saraswati is the reminder of our rich civilization which was part of our Vedic heritage and is now claimed as Indus Valley civilization. It is remembrance of our ancestral land which was taken away from us without our consent and without giving a fight to those usurpers.

Let on this auspicious day of Basant Panchami, signifying the beginning of Spring, wisdom is blessed upon us and the courage to accept the truth of it and live for it.

Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Vidyarupena Samsthita।
Namastasyai Namastasyai Namastasyai Namo Namah॥

में शायर तो नहीं

अर्ज़ किया है

भूल गए खुदको ऐसा दास्तां सुनाया तूने
सांस रुक जाए अगर इश्क़ में नI रंगI हमने
इश्क़ इबादत है, नI रुके उसके धड़कने 
ख्वाइश है, हमारे भी हो मुहब्बत दास्ताने

Bhul gaye khud ko, aisa dastaan sunaya tu ne

Saans ruk jaaye agar ishq mein na rang-aa hum ne  

Ishq ibadat hai, na ruke uske dhadkane

Khwaish hai, ke humare bhi ho muhabbat daastaney

Krishna Katha: Rediscovering the Holy Cow

Series: Krishna Katha

Episode 2: Rediscovering the Holy Cow

When we look at the rural economy of the world, the first thing we can observe is significance of animals in sustaining such economy be it agrarian or dairy. Considering this fact, cow is critical to the survival of farming based economy of India, where bulls not only tilted the land since ages but cows serve as an alternate source of income through dairy products and also meeting the fuel requirements of the household and neighbourhood.

In ancient times, i.e. before the advent of Islam in Bharat, whenever there was an invasion, the attackers used to claim the livestock of the region they invaded. Also on losing wars livestock were offered as compensation in addition to precious metals and gems. This clearly indicates the importance of livestock especially cow. So when the Bharatiya social heads put ban on beef, i.e. killing of cows, it was not only on the ground of religion, but also to protect the livestock of a kingdom.

Now coming to the modern world, the farmers have tractors so they don’t need bulls. But don’t they need the free bio-fuel generated from the cows? Non-conventional forms of energy are coming up to compete with fuel energy and bio-fuel produced from cow dung can play an important role in this aspect. Also there is cow urine which has been patented for several diseases like diabetes and is already in use by various pharma companies across the globe. Not detailing the enormous market of dairy products which can be conveniently accessed with the availability of processing and preservation units.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has dubbed beef as a 'climate harmful meat' due to its carbon footprint. World health Organization (WHO) has also marked read meat such as beef as a probable reason for cancer.

As a Bharatiya it is our duty to make people aware about the harmful consequences of beef eating, not to enforce Hindu rituals on others, but to protect the health, economy and environment.